


A Vignette of Summer

by Drakey



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas, Delivery Food, Disabled Character, Gen, Lawyer Zoldycks, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-21 04:19:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17036519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drakey/pseuds/Drakey
Summary: For Coruscamine's pizza-boy Gon au from Twitter:Gon is surprised by the late night pizza runs to Zoldyck, Zoldyck and Morow, partially because the attractive, exhausted lawyer who is the office's sole occupant at one in the morning seems to be drinking an entire two liter of Coca Cola on his own every weeknight, but partially because he doesn't usually feel such a pull to the people he brings pizza.Zushi is watching his boyfriend spread himself too thin after the accident that took his leg, and when Gon meets a stressed-out lawyer who offers to help get their lives back in order, it almost seems too good to be true.Killua has trapped himself at his family's law firm to help his sister. She's nearly free, but she insists he should do things for himself more. When is he ever going to have that kind of time?





	A Vignette of Summer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [coruscamine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/coruscamine/gifts).



> This came from Twitter, when Coruscamine posted an AU idea where Gon was a delivery boy and Killua was exhausted. I put a lot of myself into this one, and it grew way past what it was at the start. There's tears and sweat in this one.

Personal sausage, mushroom and artichoke heart (?) pizza. Two-liter of Coke. Double-chocolate chocolate chunk jumbo cookie.

Gon Freecss hurries up the stairs, his good leg pumping in time to the Frank Sinatra song playing over his chunky over-ear headphones, his bad leg clanking against the steps. The smell of sausage and cheese and artichoke wafts around him, since Wing's Pizza can't spring for proper insulated thermal bags and the Trader Joe's cold food bags they use instead can't even completely enclose the generous (enormous) "personal" pizzas Gon delivers. He's been asked to stop telling customers to enjoy their half-warm pizza, but it's the star of November in New York and whoever ordered this pizza is going to get, at best, three quarters of a hot pizza and a quarter of a cold one.

He spots Suite #99 down the hall on the ninth floor, right where it's supposed to be, a solid office door with "Zoldyck, Zoldyck, and Morow" painted on the frosted glass window. When Gon takes his headphones off, he can hear obnoxious music through the door, a cheery number that makes him laugh when he recognizes Weird Al. He knocks on the door, and there's some muffled cursing, then the music stops. A guy, twentysomething with fluffy, disheveled white hair (it has enough highlights and tone variation that it's clearly natural, just... incredibly pale), a tight, stressed look, and wide blue eyes barely spares a glance for him. It's no wonder, this guy looks strung out, like he's mostly made up of stress. If Gon felt like this guy looks, he'd be all focused on the food, too.

He still manages to make it look pretty good.

"Uh..." Gon takes his best shot at pronouncing the name. "Killua... Zowl... dick?"

Killua rolls his eyes, reaching into the bag for the cookie. "Zoldyck," he responds absently, stuffing the cookie into his mouth and relaxing visibly. He takes the pizza and the soda, juggles them like he does this every day all day, and hands Gon the cash: a fifty. "Keep the change," he says with a rogueish little smirk.

Gon blinks at the empty thermal bag in his hand, the vast overpayment for a cheap pizza, and the closed door. He folds up the fifty and goes back downstairs. Killua Zoldyck was a little frustrating to see like that. Gon has sometimes let his imagination run wild: his job is the first line of a bad porno, and he knows it, and even though the world doesn't work that way, sometimes he imagines being dragged into a house for "alternate payment" by a particularly attractive customer.

Killua Zoldyck will be the strung-out star of a fantasy or two, he's sure. He resolves to tell Zushi all about it when he gets back to the shop.

+----+

Zushi is out on the last delivery run of their shift, but when he returns, Gon babbles the whole story to him. "He was just, like, burned-out-med-student hot, you know?" Gon concludes.

"This isn't like that Palm chick that used to come in all the time, is it?" Zushi pouts at the question.

From across the restaurant, Wing remarks "she was sniffing around Gon, not the other way around."

"And you know I told her no," Gon says comfortingly. Kurapika and Leorio arrive at the front door at the same time, shoving and arguing with each other like usual, as Gon and Zushi leave. Gon takes Zushi's hand and squeezes it. 

"You were interested," Zushi prods.

"Well, yeah. She was pretty. But she was also possessive and trying to steal me from you. She literally put it that way. I'm not gonna date somebody who wants to 'steal' me from my boyfriend." Gon turns to walk backward while he takes both of Zushi's hands. "Zushi, you know how I felt about Retz, and I told her to take a hike because she called you-"

"Your side-piece, I know," Zushi cuts him off. He circles around so that he is walking backward instead of Gon. They both know the way to the car, and it's so late, nobody else will be on the sidewalk. "I just... I get insecure. You can do the whole... monogamy thing. And I can't. And it makes me-mmf!"

Gon pulls Zushi close and kisses him fiercely. "I love you, dummy. Just because I can do monogamy doesn't mean I will the first chance I get. And hey, the holidays are coming up. You remember that party we went to last New Year?"

Zushi smiles, blushes, and glances off to the side. "Yeah. I wish Pokkle had worked out. I mean, he was like, a zillion years old-"

"He was thirty, Zushi-"

"-but he was sweet and he cooked like... really good. But Gon, we're not likely to meet our next third at a New Year party."

Gon switches their positions again. "We'll see. At least we'll be able to go on dates again soon. Hot Guy gave me a fifty and told me to keep the change, so that's another, like, thirty bucks into the rainy-day fund."

Zushi stares. "He did? Oh. Oh, Gon, that's really good!" Gon lets go of his hands and puts a hand on the car. Zushi steps around it to climb in the driver seat. Gon takes shotgun once the door is unlocked. 

"See," Gon smiles. "It's just like Aunt Mito said after the accident. One day at a time. We'll get there."

Zushi nods stiffly as he starts up the car. "Yeah. One day at a time."

+----+

It's not like Killua hates his job. He's actually a wizard with legal quagmires like this. He finds them kinda fun to sort through. He's the best in the family at finding the argument that will get a favorable ruling or an acquittal or whatever result they're looking for. It's just that he hates his _family,_ and that's just because they're universally horrible. But he bought Alluka's freedom from the family business and mother's awful prejudices with a promise to keep his nose clean and join the family, and he can't leave until he secures her future for real.

But he does enjoy handing the pizza guy a ridiculous sum from his dad's office cash pool the second night in a row. A soft spluttering meets his ears, but he ignores it. At least the guy got his name right this time. Killua turns back to the computer and turns his wonderfully unprofessional music back on. 

+----+

When Zushi wakes Gon from his nightmare on Monday afternoon, Gon rolls right out of bed, and Zushi catches him before he can fall. It sort of sets the tone for the week. Gon spends seven days trying to ignore the way he feels more aware than ever of his injury. If it weren't for the fact that he's gotten that same delivery order (personal sausage, mushroom, and artichoke heart pizza, two liter of coke, double-chocolate chocolate chunk jumbo cookie, $21.27, here's a fifty, keep the change, I'm the hottest person who's ever looked like he just doesn't sleep, goodbye), Gon would find the whole delivery-boy thing too much of a chore. 

And of course, one nightmare will tend to bring others, so he wakes up at four in the afternoon on Tuesday with the logo for Chimera Freight in his head and an ache in the leg he lost, and by Wednesday morning, Gon is drowning out the world with music so often he has to switch from old crooners like Sinatra to psychedelic rock. It happens again on Thursday, and Zushi has to talk him down from a panic attack. 

But Friday arrives okay, and Gon breathes deep and snuggles further under the covers while his boyfriend works out their finances on his phone. 

Zushi lets out a little gasp. Gon reaches out to touch him, concerned. After the medical bills, any surprise during bookkeeping is frightening.

Zushi is too relaxed for the news to be truly bad, though. His bare back isn't corded with tight muscle, just warm and soft and reassuring. "Gon, we have an extra two hundred dollars."

Gon blinks. "Zoldyck," he says. "I guess I never thought about it, but you're right. Thirty here and thirty there adds up.

"We can do a date night next month," Zushi prods hopefully. "This puts us over our bills."-

Gon smiles, and he drags Zushi back down onto the bed, so together they can forget the budget for a little while.

+----+

"Uh, this is a hundred."

"Yeah," Killua mumbles. "Keep the change." He starts to close the door, but it is caught by the pizza guy. Killua turns to give him a glare and completely forgets what he was doing, because pizza guy is... 

Well, objectively, he's seen better days. Killua runs on coffee and spite these days, and he knows the look of someone who's lost a fight with life in extra rounds. Pizza guy is a little too slender, a little too tired, but even with all that, even thin and drawn, he's... attractive would be an understatement. His skin is paled from what must have been a lovely bronze, and therefore he is much darker than Killua. His hair is teased up in lush green spikes, his eyes bright and amber and his nose adorably buttonish. 

He wears green denim shorts, and a green zip-up hoodie, a pair of chunky black headphones slung around his neck, audibly blaring what sounds like Pink Floyd. His shirt, half-visible under his open hoodie, has a whole collection of pride flags printed on it, and some text Killua can't read. It all hangs a little loose, as though it was bought for a larger frame, but it's also all faded. Even though the clothing drapes off of him now, Killua can picture him filling it out. His mind's eye sketches Pizza Guy wearing a smile, and fed up and filled out a little better, and the clothes that hang from him take on a new life in that image. 

He doesn't notice the prosthetic leg right away. It's the left leg, missing, if Killua guesses right, below the knee. The replacement is a basic, cheap model, but has been lovingly covered with jungle-green cloth, clearly an aftermarket bit of customization, homemade and somehow charming. Pizza Guy leans away from the attachment, as though he doesn't entirely trust it. It explains the rest of him; Killua would probably lose some weight and get pretty tired if he lost a leg.

"I can't take this," Pizza Guy says. "It's too much."

Killua rolls his eyes. "What, they won't let you?"

"No," Pizza Guy gives Killua a concerned look. "It's just... this has to be more than you can afford. You've given me fifty bucks every time and this is, like, the eighth time. That's... uh..."

"Five hundred dollars in less than two weeks?" Killua provides. "Don't worry, it's not my money." Pizza Guy's eyes widen, and Killua laughs. "It's my dad's. He refills the office coffers every week with, like, ten grand. This is the least sketchy thing that gets done with it. Besides, dad's a billionaire. I'd have to pay you tens of thousands for pizza and order it four times a day in order to slow down the profits so he'd notice."

Pizza Guy's face runs through a complex series of emotions, little twitches of expressions. He wears his heart on his sleeve, Killua notes with a jump of envy. Guilelessness is something Killua cannot afford, and it hurts, sometimes, to meet those who have the privelege of guilelessness. Pizza Guy extends a hand towards Killua. "I'm Gon."

"Killua," Killua says. He shakes Pizza Guy-Gon's hand. Gon's grip is strong, his hands warm and a little greasy from carrying pizza around all night. "You on the end of your shift, or the start, or what?"

Gon smiles, a timid gesture, the sun peeking out from behind the clouds. "The end."

Killua gestures to his cubicle. "You tired? Need to sit down for a minute? I probably shouldn't be drinking a whole two liter every night, so I can offer you a drink."

Gon's smile shows up again, and he comes in. Killua watches him fold up and pocket the hundred dollar bill. Killua looks around the room, shrugs, and pops into Illumi's office to get his brother's chair. Illumi would hate that a disabled pizza delivery guy in a pride shirt had sat in it. This is all the more reason for Killua to make sure it happens.

Gon happily takes the proferred seat, and Killua watches in satisfaction as he admires the leather armrests. "Whose chair is this?" Gon asks.

"My brother's. He's a dick, so I do everything I can to disrespect him." Killua grabs two of the cups they keep by the coffee machine and brings them over to pour the soda into. By the time he delivers a cup to Gon, Gon is on his phone, texting. He doesn't see the cup at first, and when he spots it, is startled.

"Sorry," Gon says. "I was just letting my boyfriend know I'm sitting down for a drink with you. He works at the same place as me, so I didn't want to worry him."

Killua tries to not feel bitter that Gon has a boyfriend. "That's sweet. What's he like?" Why he asks that, he has no clue, but it happens every time someone he's attracted to says they have a boyfriend. Kalluto teases him about it, mother berates him for it. Illumi views it with contempt.

Gon's smile, until now a fleeting and uncertain flash, lights up the room. Killua can't help the soft reflection of it that starts to brighten his own face. "Zushi? He's great. He really helped me out after..." he gestures to his prosthetic, and a stormy frown flickers across his face for a moment, but then the smile is back. "It was in March. Zushi is my lifeline. He really is. I don't think I know anyone else who would have stayed with me through that."

Killua nods. Gon takes a pull at his soda, then asks, "what about you? Do you have a boyfriend? Girlfriend?"

Killua shakes his head, barking a bitter laugh. "Me? No. No, no."

Gon casts an appraising look over him. "How?"

Killua laughs a little more genuinely at that. "Quit flirting. I'm busy, that's all. I'm the prodigy around here, you know. No time for dating."

Gon leans back, pulling at his drink again. "I'm not flirting. Do you want me to flirt? Zushi says I'm awful at it, but it was enough to get him, so I can't be that bad."

Killua blinks, pulls out his cookie, and breaks off a chunk. He hands it to Gon, who takes it with a grateful smile and raises it up like he's offering a toast. Killua taps Gon's piece of cookie with his own, and, chortling, they both take a bite at the same time.

Killua fights down butterflies. "You're flirting, dumbass. You're just oblivious about it."

Gon shrugs. "Maybe. You don't mind, do you?"

"No," Killua replies. "Just..." he thinks of the other man, the one who loves Gon so much. He's not going to break someone else's heart just because this man makes him want to think with his prick. "Don't expect me to flirt back. I'm not that kind of girl."

Gon laughs and pulls at his drink again. "Fair. So, what kinda girl are you? And also, are you a girl, 'cause if you're just, like, not able to express the way you want-"

Killua strongly considers screaming, because this man is incredible and it is deeply unfair. Instead, he cuts him off. "No. I'm a boy. Thanks for checking, though. I mean it. My sister is trans, and people don't always... you know, they aren't..."

Gon pats his knee. The gesture is warm and gentle and bright. "I understand."

+----+

Gon doesn't realize he forgot to put his headphones back on until Zushi makes him turn off the music as they walk to the car. He's been too busy telling Zushi about his brief conversation with Killua. Gon stops walking for a moment, then pulls his phone out of his pocket and silences the music. "Sorry," he says. "That talk really calmed me down. I don't think he's gay, though. Or maybe not polyamorous? Anyways, that's a no-go."

"Hm. Too bad," Zushi says. "He sounds cute."

Gon bumps Zushi's hip. "He's nice, anyway. And I'm glad he's not one of those awful lawyer types that just wanna take away people's rights and make money. I would've been sad if he turned out to be a jerk." Gon sketches a brief, thoughtful frown. "I mean, he is kind of a jerk, but only, like, personally. He wants good things to happen to everyone, but he called me a dumbass, like, six times."

His boyfriend shoots Gon a concerned look. "He called you a dumbass?"

Gon nods happily. "Yeah. It was cute."

Zushi rolls his eyes. "You are so weird."

+----+

"So, can I ask..." Killua prompts on Friday, gesturing to the leg. He has been trying to avoid looking at it for days, but now that he has noticed, he just has to wonder. Gon doesn't seem like the type to have been in the military, so it's not likely a war wound. He regaled Killua with a story about taking part in a protest on Wednesday, so he probably isn't a cop, either. It must have been either an accident or an illness.

Gon follows him into the office. Sharing a bit of soda and cookie has become a _thing_ between them, and if Killua thought for an instant that it was okay, he would share more than just that with Gon. Illumi's chair is already set out. Gon left greasy fingerprints all over iton Tuesday, which Killua covered up by letting a client's kids get into Illumi's office the next morning. He gave one of them a chocolate bar first. Illumi's meltdown was hilarious. Gon sits, and Killua retrieves their cups.

"It was a car crash," Gon says. "Semi truck hit me while I was on my way to my Aunt Mito's house for a party. She lives in the Florida Keys, so it's a long drive, and I was just south of Savannah when this big truck came outta nowhere." He claps his hands together, once, a sharp sound that makes Killua want to flinch. "It was one of those big Chimera Freight jobs. I saw the logo before I spun off into the ditch, and my legs got trapped, and they had to do the jaws of life thing. You know, it's quieter than you think. Most of what I heard was the car crinkling and breaking."

Killua stops in the middle of taking a sip. Chimera Freight is one of his father's most lucrative clients. Killua has never been allowed to look at the files, which probably means something illegal is going on. "Did the truck just keep going?"

Gon nods. "Yeah."

Killua feels his heart begin to break for what Gon must have gone through. All alone in a crushed car, his life seeming forfeit, no hope in sight on an abandoned road. And he came through it. Gon somehow manages to constantly exude a strength Killua can barely understand, and this is why. To survive something like that, Gon must have a core of steel. "No settlement? No nothing?"

"They paid for the ambulance." Gon sips his drink. Killua feels heat rising up in his face, a tight anger quivering under his skin.

He turns to his computer and starts looking up files.

"Killua?" Gon's voice is a question all on its own, and not a simple one. Killua shushes him.

After a few moments, Killua huffs out his frustration. "Do you have records? Of the events?"

Gon nods.

"And what Chimera freight did?"

Another nod. A darkness has settled over Gon's face in the form of a frown, and Killua does his best to blow away those clouds. "What did you do before the crash?"

Gon blushes unaccountably and pulls out his phone. He taps through until he pulls up a video and hands it to Killua to watch. "This is how me and Zushi met."

The video is of a younger (very buff) Gon, in a UFC ring, pounding the absolute shit out of a man with short brown hair. The crowd cheers, and cameras flash, and Gon smiles over the phone at Killua, proud. "He fought really good," Gon explains, and Killua turns his eyes back to the video, slowly coming to understand that the man Gon is mercilessly beating is apparently the love of his life.

"I guess he's cuter without blood coming out of his mouth?" Killua says before he can stop himself.

Gon laughs at that. "He's pretty cute with the blood, too. I asked him out right after the fight. He thought I was nuts, and made me ask him again when he was less concussed."

Killua smiles. Only Gon could make a sentiment like "it's cute when my boyfriend bleeds because he lost a fight to me" exactly as sweet and innocent as "my boyfriend loves puppies." Gon takes the phone and scrolls through his files until he finds a picture to show Killua: Zushi, dark circles under his eyes, his hair grown out and scraggly, but smiling as Gon kisses his cheek. And okay, so Zushi is pretty cute. He has slightly outsized ears, and enormous brown eyes, and cheeks that have maintained a bit of baby fat even in the hard times he and Gon have fallen on. His smile lights up his eyes, reflecting such obvious love and devotion that Killua chokes up for just a moment, then hands the phone back to Gon.

"You shouldn't be delivering pizzas. When you come back, bring me those records. I want to take a look at them."

"Why?" Gon asks.

"Because I'm pretty sure Chimera scammed you. I'm really good at my job, Gon, and I know Chimera. They're big, they're powerful, and they owe you fifteen million, minimum. Thirty if I try real hard. If I could convince my family to go after them, I could get you a hundred million. If I could convince my family to break them, I could get you the company." He takes Gon's hand without thinking about it and squeezes the warm flesh there. "I suggest you go for the thirty million, though. You don't want to owe my family anything." He looks down at their joined hands, then up at Gon, then blushes and drops his hand. "I can't guarantee anything, but if I look at the documents, I bet I can take them apart for you.

+----+

Gon is pensive that evening, after he and Zushi have made love and curled up together. Zushi strokes Gon's hair, in disarray after their athletics. "What's wrong," he asks.

"Killua offered to help me sue Chimera."

Zushi sits bolt upright. "We can't afford a lawyer, Gon."

"I'm pretty sure he knows that," Gon laughs mirthlessly. "He seemed angry. He wanted to take a look at our records of the accient and stuff to see if he could help."

Zushi goes back to stroking Gon's hair, a soothing touch that lets Gon's eyes drift closed. "Do you want to?"

Gon purses his lips. He knows Zushi will scold him if he starts chewing on his lower lip like he has when he gets nervous since the accident. Talking about it, and dreaming about it, and thinking about it, all of it has bothered him the last two weeks, and a part of him wants to run away, to never think about it again. Take Zushi and go somewhere easier to live than New York.

Away from Killua.

That thought hurts. There's no telling where he and Killua will end up, but he knows they aren't there yet.

"Killua thinks he could get me fifteen million from Chimera."

Zushi makes a tiny squeaking noise.

"Thirty million if he's really trying."

The squeaking noise comes back louder. Gon's eyes slide open. 

"Killua's right. We shouldn't be delivering pizzas. I'm gonna do it."

+----+

When Gon knocks on the door to Zoldyck, Zoldyck, and Morow on Monday, his headphones are still on, blaring classical music into his ears. The radios have all started up the Christmas music, and Gon is more grateful than ever for his extensive musical library, because today is not a day he could take Jingle Bells. 

When Killua opens the door, Gon takes his headphones off. "I brought those papers," he says.

Killua nods and relieves Gon of his burdens. "We'll talk about them tomorrow? I'll order my pizza, and you can bring it after your shift is over. We can arrange for that, right?"

Gon smiles cautiously, and he works out the details with Killua over soda and a bit of cookie, but then Killua sets to reading the documents, and sends Gon off with a confident smile. The night is anxious for Gon, his shoulders tense and his face drawn with worry. Zushi does his best to comfort Gon, but until Gon is off work the next day, that's nearly an impossible prospect. Gon used to be a fighter, always willing to rush into the next combat. He doesn't know where this weakness came from. Zushi drives him to the building after work, and Gon squeezes his hand. He takes Zushi inside, and when he knocks on the door, Killua opens it and his eyes briefly go wide.

+----+

Zushi is small. This is the part that Killua didn't expect. He knew Gon might take his boyfriend along, but he didn't expect Zushi to be so small. He's barely over five feet tall, his shaggy brown hair fluffy enough to make him seem stick-thin. He dresses much more sensibly than Gon, huddling inside of a stylish leather jacket and a sweater, and not shorts in New York November like certain other absolute maniacs Killua could name. He's even thinner than in the picture Gon had showed to Killua, the exhaustion clear on his face, the background radiation of hardship.

The shortness and thinness don't make Zushi seem fragile. There's obviously plenty of strength in him, a wiry build that says he could still probably be a contender in the ring. His stature does render him more approachable, though, an unexpected element of small and cute that makes Killua understand how Gon could have been so instantly attracted to him.

Killua waves them both in and sits them down. Their documents are organized into piles on his desk according to the system that none of his family seems able to understand. He pulls one off of a pile as Zushi helps to set out the pizza-Killua points him towards the surface that can least afford to have a couple of pizzas rested on it-and Gon sits in Illumi's chair. Zushi snags a chair from the receptionist's desk and sits next to Gon. His hand rests on Gon's right knee, and Gon takes it in his own.

"The good news is that I think I can get the money out of them. Ten million for base damages, at least five for the hit and run, another five or so for the hardship you've suffered since, lost wages and shit, maybe ten more for trying to scam you out of what you were owed." Killua twitches the sheet in his hand. "The bad news is that we're gonna need to organize a lot more. Now, I have some questions that can help us figure out where to go from here. Are you guys ready?"

Gon nods stiffly. His smile, thin and thready last night, is absent entirely tonight. Killua reaches out and takes his other hand. "Personal injury like this fucks with the victim's head." He sets down the paper and reaches out to Zushi, mildly surprised when Zushi takes his hand as well. "This is going to drag up a lot of stuff you don't want to feel again. You don't have to do this, but if you want to get what you're owed, it's the only way."

Gon squeezes his hand, a tight grip that doesn't let up. To his continuing surprise, Zushi echoes the gesture. "We're ready," Zushi says. "We talked about this. We're both on Obamacare. We can get a therapist. We probably should. We had one for a while after the accident, but... there's still a copay, you know?"

Killua takes in a deep breath and squeezes both of their hands. They let go, and the moment is over. "Okay. We're doing this, then. Obviously, I'm not gonna charge you guys upfront. We're gonna get paperwork filled out, and a real contract so it's all tidy and legal, but right now lets' get to work."

+----+

"You know, I really like your boyfriend," Killua says three days later around a mouthful of pizza while Gon munches away at another slice. Killua has changed his ordering patterns: two pizzas, two cookies. Still just one bottle of Coke, but now he splits it almost even with Gon, sixty forty. Maybe seventy-five-twenty-five. "He takes care of you. That's important. And he made you put on big-boy pants." Killua points to Gon's legs, which are finally covered up in jeans, presumably a concession to the blizzard that rolled through earlier today.

Gon smiles, one of the ones that slowly rises out of nowhere and brightens up everything around him. "Yeah. Aunt Mito likes him for the same reason."

"Smart lady," Killua supplies. He looks at the mountain of paperwork they have finally finished sorting through. Zushi has been and gone already, only able to stop in for long enough to sign things. He has a Weekend-After-Thanksgiving party to attend with his family tomorrow, so he took the car when he left, trusting Killua to drive Gon home safe, and now the time is coming for that very thing to happen.

Killua doesn't want to. He wants to stay here with Gon for the next couple of forevers, because Gon is the only person who makes this office feel anything like okay.

"Aunt Mito is really smart," Gon says. He polishes off his slice of pizza and helps Killua to put away the remains of their meal. It's nearly five in the morning. Killua wipes his greasy fingers on Illumi's chair and wheels it back into his brother's office.

Killua walks Gon to the elevator at the back of the office in silence, and when they get in, Gon leans back against the wall. "This is new," he says. "Us. Leaving together."

Killua nods. He entertains a brief fantasy of approaching Gon to pin him against the wall and kiss him senseless, or maybe get pinned himself. His eyes linger on Gon's hands, his strong arms, his knowing smirk and direct gaze and _oh shit,_ Gon knows he was staring.

Killua swallows a lump in his throat and nearly sobs with relief when the elevator doors open into the parking garage. There are no cars here besides Killua's. This parking garage is reserved for his family and their clients. He leads Gon to the Jaguar mother got him for his sixteenth birthday. "Careful," Killua says as he opens it. "The passenger door sticks a little." He climbs in and breathes in the comforting smell of his messy, messy car. It's taken a lot of effort to break in this car properly, but he's managed it okay.

Gon climbs in with a bit more effort next to him, and Killua starts up the car and drives out as Gon buckles in. Killua starts up the radio and is surprised when Gon begins to sing along to Winter Wonderland. As the song draws to a close, Gon turns a lazy, sunny smile on Killua. Killua smiles back and follows Gon's directions at the next intersection. He can still feel Gon's eyes on him as they both sing along to Rudolph. Killua normally hates when the Christmas music starts to play in the office. He knows for a fact that his mother's choice of music is more to put their high-powered clients, who are mostly conservative and bigoted, at ease with the fact that Killua doesn't hide his orientation, and that two of the more recent hires are Muslims, and other things that have to be swept under the rug to keep shitty old coservatives happy. Gon sings along with so much joy, though, that Killua forgets how uncomfortable the music can make him and the people he cares about, and he laughs and sings, and for once he doesn't really mind that they start playing the carols the instant Thanksgiving is over.

As they cross the George Washington Bridge a few songs later, Killua turns again to look at Gon, and his breath catches in his throat.

Gon is looking at him, his eyes a little hooded. The heat of his gaze sends Killua's blood rushing both north and south, and Killua swallows softly. He turns his eyes back to the road. Soon enough, Killua has to turn down the radio and listen to Gon's directions more attentively. Gon guides them to a shabby Jersey City apartment building entirely too far away from Gon's workplace to be convenient. Killua parks the car and Gon gets out. Killua leans back to watch him get home, but Gon first circles the car and knocks on Killua's window. 

Killua rolls down the window, and Gon leans over. "Thanks, Killua. You're amazing. Really." He kisses Killua on the cheek, a lingering brush of hot mouth against skin.

Before Killua can say anything, Gon is away, stepping into the building. Killua waits in the road for a long time before he drives away.

+----+

"Are you sure about this, sweetie?" Mito asks as Gon starts bustling around the kitchen. He's waited until he could facetime her to tell her about the lawsuit, and Zushi has been... twitchy... about facetiming ever since Gon spent a month at a hospital in Georgia and that was the only way they could talk, so Zushi's party is the perfect time to tell his aunt. Gon pulls the pancake mix out of the cupboard and glances back at the phone, propped up on a charging stand next to the fridge. 

"I'm sure. Killua says we can win, and I trust him." Gon drops the pancake mix next to the phone and hurries off to retrieve his next set of ingredients.

"It's just... it's been so long." Mito's voice is concerned, her face drawn and tight when Gon puts down the chocolate chips and fruit, but Gon flashes her a bright smile and she relaxes a little. The last year has been hard for her; she used to have just a little grey hair, but now she's more salt than pepper, crow's feet and frown lines dotting her tired face. "And who's this Killua person, anyway? Why do you trust him? He's not another boyfriend, is he?"

"Not exactly," Gon says. "I mean, I think he'd like to be, but he's definitely not polyam. He orders a pizza, like, every night, and I always wind up delivering it. But I trust him because he's a good person."

"So he's a lawyer?" Mito asks.

Gon nods. "Killua Zoldyck," he says. He holds up his hands next to his head. "Fluffy white hair, like, super-pale, kinda exhausted-med-student chic."

Mito's face falls at the name. "Zoldyck?" she parrots. Gon nods. "Gon, the Zoldycks are awful! Silva Zoldyck helped Senator Hill steal the election six years ago. You remember me complaining about that? You have to get away from-"

"Killua isn't like that," Gon insists. "He's ni... he's kind, and he's helping me without charging anything, like, even after we win. And he got his sister away from the family. They were being awful to her because she's trans."

Mito blinks at that while Gon starts to cut up fruit. Finally, she says, cautiously, "I suppose that's better. I'm still very worried about you."

Gon smiles. "I know. It's gonna be okay. I love you, Aunt Mito. Are you still on to come up here for Christmas and New Year?"

Mito nods. "Of course."

Gon grins through the brilliant idea that's just occurred to him. "Then you can meet Killua. I'm gonna invite him to Christmas and New Year, too. I'm sure he'd love to come."

Mito narrows her eyes at Gon. "Does your long-suffering hubby know about that plan?"

"I have no husband," Gon teases. "But if you mean Zushi, the man I haven't married because we cannot afford it, then no. Because I just now decided. And you knew that already. And he's not long-suffering."

"Oh, Gon," Mito laughs, "I raised you. I know what it's like to deal with you all the time. Believe me, he's suffering."

Gon laughs with her, and it feels good for a while, but eventually he remembers that he's likely to have to talk about almost dying in front of a crowded courtroom. He tells Mito right away, of course, and she reaches out towards her screen, yearning to touch her baby boy. "It's gonna be worth it, right?" Gon says.

+----+

"I'm just not sure if I'm doing the right thing," Killua confesses across the overloaded table. Alluka places a hand over his and gives him a sympathetic look.

"You remember when I told you to try and do things for you?"

Killua nods. "Yeah. But this isn't for me."

Alluka rolls her eyes and spears a piece of turkey. "Killua, you feel awful when you're just doing Silva's bidding like an asshole. Silva would hate this. I know you, Brother. You love doing things out of spite."

Killua laughs despite himself. "Yeah. But Alluka, I can't rock the boat too much. I have to take care of you."

Alluka sighs. She points at him, and Killua freezes. "Bang!" Alluka snaps, and Killua obediently ducks his head into his shirt and falls off his chair. When he comes up, she's looking over the table at him, both eyebrows raised in consternation. "Killua, you helped me get out, but you don't need to take care of me. I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself. The name change will be official by Christmas, and I'm going to get a job and take care of myself. You know I have the connections to get an okay job."

"You shouldn't have to," Killua pouts.

Alluka points at him again, and they run the whole routine through one more time. This time, when Killua pokes his head out again, she scolds him. "Everybody else has to get a job. You're letting yourself think like a billionaire again. Getting a real job isn't going to kill me."

"Maybe," Killua mumbles. He clambers back into his chair and eyes the cranberry sauce. "I love you, sis. You know that, right? I just want all the best for you, because if our family was like a real family, you'd have had nothing but the best."

Alluka snorts, an indelicate sound she's always used because Kikyo hates it. "And then we would have watched the world burn while we sat in our ivory tower and turned into walking chunks of shit like Illumi and Milluki and Kikyo."

Killua blinks. "Not Silva or Kalluto?"

"Kalluto is still in college and Silva's mostly just shitty because Kikyo makes him. I mean, he's still shitty, but not quite actively shit." Alluka sits down. "So update me. Has Illumi gotten caught fucking Hisoka yet?"

"No," Killua says, "and I still doubt they really are. Hisoka just creeps on him, that's all."

Alluka smiles across the table at him as they start up their favorite old argument.

+----+

Gon looks down at the letter Killua has handed him. "They're scared," Killua summarizes. "They know the Zoldyck name, and that scares them." He points down at the last paragraph. "They're not scared enough, though. See, they congratulate me on my joining the firm. That means they know I'm young. They're betting I'm easy pickings."

"So do we fight?" Gon asks.

Killua shakes his head. "Not yet. Negotiations are going to happen first, and we have them dead to rights. This case is beyond open and shut. I asked for seventy million for a reason. They know damn well that with a case like this and a victim as marketable as you, I could use Zoldyck resources to pull well beyond that out of them. I could make it really public and cost them hundreds of millions, maybe bring down their whole company. Zoldyck, Zoldyck and Morow doesn't take a hard luck case unless the other guy is about to get his shit kicked in. As far as they know, this is just the baby of the family getting trained to rip some poor asshole's throat out, and as much as fifty million would be a bargain to them." He grins wolfishly. "Then there's the fact that they just generally don't want this to go to trial. At a trial, they have no say in how much they'll lose for something this open and shut. At the table, they can try to choose the payout."

Gon nods. Hope swells up in his chest for the first time that he might not have to go through a trial. "So we go to negotiate with them?"

"Hopefully." Killua pulls the last slice of pizza from the second box and holds it out to Gon. This, too, has become like ritual. Killua orders the pizza, two whole pizzas, two cookies, one coke, and Zushi drops Gon off, or comes up with him for a while, but Zushi holds himself just a ways off from Killua. Gon is sure he is depressed by Killua's apparent disinterest in him. He made some noises after Thanksgiving about going to a bar to try to find someone for them to take home, but they just don't have the time. Instead, it is late nights and busy weekends as they work and consult about the case and cover their medical obligations and put out the million little brushfires that always spring up in their life together since the accident. Gon takes the pizza and and freezes with it halfway to his mouth when Killua says "any luck with finding a therapist?"

The sudden tensing of Gon's back is the first warning that he's about to panic, and he starts to put the pizza down, but Killua reaches out and catches Gon's face in his hands. Blue eyes lock onto Gon's . "Hey," Killua says, softly.

"Hey," Gon whispers back, his pizza still hanging ridiculously in front of him.

"You okay?" Killua asks.

Gon shakes his head between Killua's hands. They're soft and cool against his skin. "No luck. With therapist." Gon draws a shuddering breath. "No... in network. Panicked about it pretty bad last night with Zushi."

Killua draws Gon into a hug. "Do you need help?" he asks.

Gon nods, and the dam breaks. All the nerves over maybe having to testify, all the pain of having the accident so fresh in his mind again, comes bubbling out onto Killua, and the worst part is that Killua is so understanding. If Killua was a close, tender lover, he could process this kind of empathy and caring from him, but Killua is his _lawyer,_ for fuck's sake, and it's all too jumbled up, so he just collapses into Killua's arms while Killua gently takes the slice of pizza he's holding and places it back in the box. 

"God, I'm sorry, I didn't know you were having this much trouble. I'll help you. Of course I'll help you." Killua presses a gentle kiss to the top of Gon's head, and Gon just squeezes him tighter. It has to hurt a little, being held so tight at this angle, but Killua doesn't complain. He just offers his help, freely and with care, like he has been this whole time.

+----+

Killua watches Gon more carefully as November winds down. He manages to bully his way through a phone tree that gets Gon in to see a therapist, and on the night after Gon's first therapy appointment, Killua makes the office as soothing a space as he can. Tonight, he won't talk to Gon about law, or his injury, or anything else that might make him uncomfortable. He's set up the good chairs for Gon and Zushi, but when Gon arrives, he's alone. He pulls off his headphones and sets them down on Killua's desk while he spreads out the pizza. 

Killua closes the box and shakes his head. Gon looks around and seems to notice for the first time that the chairs aren't set up where they usually are. Killua points at the conference room, the big one with the projector. He picks up the food and the soda and takes Gon into the conference room, where the overhead projector is already playing a video of a merrily crackling fireplace. Soft, instrumental Christmas carols swell in the backround noise, and the big, plush chairs are positioned just right to get the glow of the screen and the heat of the radiator by the windows. Killua lays out their meal and turns to watch as Gon slowly lights up, the deep fogbank of worried anxiety retreating from him, burned away by the warm glow of unexpected comfort. 

"No Zushi?" Killua asks.

Gon shakes his head slowly, still, apparently, marveling at the gesture Killua has made. "He got up before me to help with therapy in the morning. He's exhausted and needs to be alone for a while anyway." Gon turns his gentle, warm smile on Killua. "This is really amazing, Killua."

Killua feels heat rising up the back of his neck, a gentle reminder that this man is taken, that he can't just...

He guides Gon to a seat, and they just rest there for a while, in the soft music and artificial firelight, and Killua waits for Gon to say something. When he does, it's quiet. "Therapy was really hard. I try to talk about my feelings, but the therapist says I lie to myself about what I feel a lot." He sucks in a deep breath. "Do you have anything stronger?" he asks, pointing to the Coke.

Killua gets up and goes to Kikyo's office. He pulls down her fine bourbon and takes a certain petty satisfaction in the idea of using a two-hundred-dollar liquor as a mixer. Gon elects to take it on the rocks, instead, and Killua is fine with that. 

"My dad left me with my aunt Mito when I was a year old," Gon says when Killua hands him his drink. He sips gently at the drink. "He was a martial artist. That's what he did for a living. Taught people to fight. But he just did it so he could travel. He wanted to be this legendary figure, a wandering teacher. He'd go and help people out with restoring some old ruin or whatever they were doing, and he'd make this big, mysterious impression, and then flit off and go be someone else's crazy story." Gon leans the rim of the glass against his lower lip. "I tried to track him down over and over, but he didn't want to be found. I... I told myself for a long time that whatever he was doing, wherever he was, that must be the greatest thing in the world, for him to turn his back on his own son. I idolized him because I couldn't make myself face facts that he was just a... that he was running away from responsibility, not towards adventure and stuff. He was just a man who wanted to be more important than he was. I gave up on tracking him down after a while, but then..."

Gon falls silent for several minutes while tears stream down his face. Killua reaches out to hold his free hand. The music continues unabated, and the quiet crackling of the fire video fills the few parts of the silence unoccupied by the music. It's a more subdued piece, a piano rendition of "Oh Holy Night." Gon squeezes Killua's hand after a while.

"After the accident, my dad was at Aunt Mito's house. I met him when I went out there after they let me out of the hospital. It turned out he'd come around to crash on her couch for a couple days and tried to leave before I got out of the hospital, but she forced him to stay there for a whole extra week. He tried to tell me about all his adventures, but it all just sounded so much... less. I get the appeal. I do. But he was twenty when he brought me to Aunt Mito. He was young, and he could have had most of those adventures with me. He was just scared of having a kid."

Gon sighs, a long, gusty, deep sound, and he sips his drink again. "But I idolized him for so long, and Aunt Mito had to force him to stay so he wouldn't run away from me. So yeah. Therapist says I'm really good at lying to myself."

Killua takes a long pull at his own drink, and he strokes Gon's hand in the quiet. "It's going to be better," he says. "It might not ever be totally okay, but Alluka told me better can always happen. She's right."

Gon nods. He tosses back the rest of his drink. Killua joins him and then refills both glasses. It's the last of Kikyo's bourbon. Killua smiles blandly at the empty bottle. He lifts his glass, and Gon toasts him, then his eyes widen and he turns to look out the window. It is snowing, huge, fluffy clumps drifting down over Manhattan. Cars move slowly down the street below, and a few lone walkers can be seen going about their business while white coats everything. 

For a moment, it's the most beautiful thing Killua has ever seen, and then he catches sight of Gon's reaction to it. The tracks of tears have dried, and the orange light from the screen flickers, not right for firelight but close enough, on the side of Gon's face while the cool glow of streetlights catches him from below. His lips are turned up in a smile, hope writ large on every one of his features as he gazes, enraptured, at the snowy night. Killua sets his glass on the windowsill, and his fingers find Gon's and set it down there, too. The ice clinks in the glass, and before he can second-guess himself, Killua is climbing into Gon's lap, kissing him with tender determination, and Gon slides into the kiss easily, their lips moving together like a dream. Slowly, they go from tranquil affection to heated embrace, and then, with a soft groan during a lull, Killua leans back.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have-"

"Killua, it's okay," Gon says.

"But Zushi," Killua begins.

Gon pulls him in for another kiss. "I'll tell him all about it in the morning, and he'll be pleased. We've talked about it. We're polyamorous. It's okay if you can't be with both of us. We understand if it's just me you want. But you have to be okay with me and Zushi still being together. I..." Gon looks suddenly ashamed, his bright expression clouding over. "Should have told you when I noticed you were attracted to me."

Killua shakes his head. He grabs Gon by the shoulders. "Gon. It's okay. I could have asked. I could have talked to you. It's not all on you."

Gon sucks in a deep breath and leans in to kiss Killua again, insistent this time.

When Killua is on his knees in front of Gon thirty minutes later, looking up into his blissful expression, he realizes that he is completely screwed, because he is massively, blindingly in love. Gon Freecss is too beautiful, too much a point of serenity and comfort. He responds too easily and quickly, a bright, challenging wit when he wants to be, and a deep, endless kindness, and Killua has been in love since the night he asked Gon about his leg. Gon gasps and releases into Killua's mouth, and Killua climbs up to straddle him once again. 

Gon's hands make quick work of Killua's arousal, and they slump together bonelessly in Illumi's expensive chair. After a while, they shift, and they finish their drinks, Killua still in Gon's lap. 

They burn off the alcohol with slow, gentle lovemaking, still in the chair, and they eat their pizza and talk together until the light of morning begins to stain the horizon. Killua wipes down Illumi's chair with a paper towel and put it back in Illumi's office. He and Gon slip out together, pinky fingers interlocked and hearts quiet as Killua takes Gon back home to Zushi. 

Gon leaves Killua again with a kiss, this time a thorough and passionate one on the lips. "This isn't the only time, is it?"

"No," Killua promises.

Gon kisses him one more time. "Good. I... I want you to come to my Christmas. And my New Year. And all my things. But let's start with those."

"Are you sure?" Killua asks. "I mean, I'm kinda the other man."

"Yes, I'm sure," Gon says. He tweaks Killua's nose very gently. "This time, I get to call you a dummy. You're not 'the other man.' You're one of my partners. And my other partner is going to be delighted to have you there."

+----+

Gon shuffles into the kitchen around two in the afternoon, finally awake and already savoring the memories of the night before. He smiles at the thought of Killua's body on his, of the electric heat of the other man. There's a lazy smile on his face when Zushi notices him, and Zushi raises a dark eyebrow.

"You look happy. Killua helped you talk it out?"

"He gave me bourbon that I'm pretty sure was really expensive and then he gave me a blowjob," Gon says. Zushi goes through several expressions, settling on surprise and mild concern. "Then he fucked me on his brother's office chair, which was sorta kinky. And I explained the polyamory thing to him first. And then I explained it again afterwards. He's coming to Christmas and New Year. We'll all talk about it."

Zushi takes a deep breath. "You're not going to leave me if he wants to go exclusive?"

Gon crosses the room to him and folds him up in his arms. Zushi hasn't gotten to go to a tournament since the accident, he's fallen mostly out of shape, and it leaves him seeming fragile in Gon's arms in comparison to the way he used to be. Gon kisses Zushi very gently and pulls him up to level with him, cradling his head to his chest.

"Zushi, when we started dating, I told you the only people that could break up you and me was you and me. I am never going to leave you for someone else, even if they don't want to be with you." Zushi takes a long, slightly shaky breath. Gon rests his chin on top of his boyfriend's head. "I know it's happened to you before, but Zushi, you know I would marry you if we could afford it. I'm not leaving, because I'm yours, okay? And I'm selfish. You're mine, and nobody gets to take you away from me. Not even if I'm dating them."

Zushi sniffles into his chest. Gon smiles softly. "I know," Zushi says. "I just... Why do they always go for you?"

Gon blinks, and he laughs. He holds Zushi out at arm's length. "Zushi, it's because I talk to people. Everyone. I went on dates with almost everyone in my high school except for the ones who didn't like boys even a little. I'm the only boy five of my classmates ever went out with. I talk to everyone, and people respond to it. You're polite and don't talk to people you're not supposed to talk to." He mimes talking with his hand. "And there I am just blabbing away at people, so I'm bound to talk to someone I get along with really well."

Zushi thinks that one through for a minute and then slowly starts laughing. Gon kisses him before he reaches over his shoulder to snag one of the candy canes they've been slowly collecting for the last few days. A lot of customers have been adding the treats to their tips. Zushi taps his arm expectantly, so Gon grabs another and they start off their day with the candy canes, and exchanging little kisses and affections. 

+----+

Killua expects things to change between himself and Zushi, but they don't. Zushi comes around sometimes and stays at the office with them. At these times, Gon will be equally affectionate with both of them, lounging on Zushi or kissing Killua when the opportunity comes. Neither Gon nor Killua have time to really see each other outside of their late-night meetings, so Zushi pointedly leaves them alone sometimes.

Once, Killua brings Gon to his own apartment, a large, empty place in lower Manhattan that he has loathed for months. Gon looks perfect and bright spread out below him on Killua's enormous bed, skin like honey and eyes like gold, a vignette of summer and sweetness and light in the depths of winter and bitter darkness.

Killua debauches his lover thoroughly, and they wake up in the morning tangled up in each other's arms, but weekends are no refuge from running all over creation, and it's a hard thing to leave each other when they must go their separate ways. 

It's not until the fifteenth that Killua finally gets the date nailed down for their negotiations. It will be just before Christmas, in one of those big offices downtown, the one Silva has never let him go to. A part of him wants to take Chimera to the cleaners, but they're too powerful, too big for one angry lawyer. Maybe one day. Somehow. But probably not.

When Gon arrives with the pizzas, Zushi behind him, Killua grabs the boxes from his hands and puts them down. He turns towards Gon's surprised expression and maneuvers him up against the wall, where he kisses him ardently, nothing like the hesitant kisses they had started out with. Gon shines with laughter when Killua pulls back. Behind him, Zushi chuckles "long day?"

"Good day," Killua says, leaning on Gon's shoulder. Sometimes he wishes he were as short as Zushi, so he could bury his face in Gon's chest. He turns towards Zushi and smiles lazily, catching the light of Gon's mirth and throwing it towards Zushi. "We have the date for negotiations. I'm excited. Nervous."

Gon tenses, and Killua gestures Zushi over. Before Gon can fully descend into panic, Killua and Zushi are cooperating to soothe him. Zushi presses little kisses to Gon's cheek, and Killua holds him. By now, he knows that the idea of negotiations has Gon wandering through memories of the crash, and he and Zushi drag him back.

"Can we talk about it at home?" Gon asks at last through a tremulous sigh, and Killua looks to Zushi again. Warm brown eyes widen for a moment, then he nods.

They take Gon and Zushi's car. Zushi is in control, smooth in the face of Gon's flashback, piling Killua and Gon into the backseat where Killua can continue to soothe him. Killua surprises him by reaching forward to turn on the radio and get Gon into singing Christmas carols. The car is an old Taurus, nothing like Killua's Jaguar, cleaner and better-maintained (the friend Zushi visited out of town was apparently their mechanic, Sadaso, a former UFC fighter Zushi had apparently kicked the shit out of early in his career and met again later during one of Gon's post-accident therapy sessions), washed frequently and obviously loved. The speakers buzz strangely, but it seems to complement Gon's voice better than Killua's overpriced car radio when Killua finally coaxes some Jingle Bells out of him.

They're in better spirits when they arrive at Gon's building, though the pizza has definitively gone cold. They make their way up to the apartment in a dingey elevator that smells of weed and dust. Zushi opens the door, and Killua steps into the cold living room while Zushi moves through the apartment, bringing lights and heaters to life with a touch here and a twist there. He finds a dark green sweater on the back of a chair and tosses it to Gon, but Gon sets it aside and vanishes into a bedroom.

Killua looks up as Zushi switches on the last lights, a set on the Christmas tree that throws multicolored light against the walls. 

The apartment is cheap, and tiny, and freezing. Killua can practically hear Kikyo sniffing derisively at the plain white walls, the tiny television, the tree barely as tall as Killua. Zushi gestures to the sofa, a battered, cream-colored affair with a couple of slightly-deflated mismatched throw pillows on it. Killua sits, and although the cushions aren't the sort of high-end luxury he's used to, they are perfectly worn, shaped by so much use that there's a perfect acceptance of his body. 

Zushi takes the food to bring it into the kitchen, and as he turns the corner, the bedroom door Gon vanished through opens up and Gon re-emerges. He has changed into pajama pants, long and as green as the rest of what he wears. He drags along a huge, fluffy red blanket, and a beat-up laptop. He hands the blanket to Killua. Killua spreads out the blanket while Gon hooks the laptop up to the television and starts up a video, transferring it onto the screen. It's Christmas music, one of those hugely-long YouTube videos with a million different artists. Gon settles next to Killua on the couch, and then Zushi comes in and takes the other side of Gon from Killua. He's brought pizza, microwaved properly, and they share out among themselves. 

They talk strategy in the comfort of the blanket until Gon falls asleep on Zushi's shoulder. Zushi takes him off to bed, and Killua follows, helping to get him tucked in, his prosthetic off and his blankets and pillows arranged just right. Killua looks down at Gon, and with a rush of warm realization, he finds himself wanting more than ever to climb into bed with him, just to hold him. This foreign place, chilly and unfamiliar, basks in the warmth of Gon's presence, a home to anyone he loves. Killua gets a kiss from Gon, and then Zushi does, and they head out into the living room again. Killua goes to gather his jacket a little sadly, but Zushi catches him by the elbow, shaking his head and pulling him to the kitchen.

This, too, is a tiny room, the counters low and the appliances small. Zushi activates an electric kettle and pulls open a cupboard full of well-organized teas. Killua selects a Lady Grey in silence and they don't speak until both of them have a mug in their hands.

"Can we really win this?" Zushi asks quietly.

Killua nods. "I'm positive. Thirty million, easy. They'll throw that number at us, and they'll think they're lowballing. They're going to assume Silva is backing me up. He's pulled their asses out of a fire before, they know how bad he can fuck them up if he wants. Trust me, this is going to be easy."

Zushi blows out a breath, then reaches across the table to clutch Killua's hand. The apartment has warmed quite a bit since they got in, but Zushi's hand is still a welcomed extra warmth, and Killua finds himself lacing his fingers with the other man. "I do trust you," Zushi says. "You love him. As much as I do."

Killua nods. "I do. And I'm going to do this for him. And for you."

When Killua takes his leave twenty minutes later, he feels a serenity he hasn't felt in his entire life. His Lyft brings him back to the office, and the tranquil feelings lasts until he comes into his own apartment, warm and comfortable and achingly empty. He sets down his jacket and his briefcase and he pulls his phone out of his pocket and calls his sister. She answers, chipper as ever, and softly, into the phone, Killua whispers "Alluka, I'm in love."

"You, big brother? That's a miracle." He can hear her puttering around on the other end of the line, a series of noises that reflects her usual disorganized rambling whenever she's on the phone. "It's Gon, right?"

Killua nods, but because she can't see him, he also says "yeah. I mean, I knew it already, but I just went to his house with him and... I hate this place, Alluka. I hate my stupid fancy apartment and my huge, warm bed and my couch that cost more than my car. I hate that my TV is just a fucking enormous black slab on my wall, and I hate this stupid spectacular view. Gon just... it's all him and Zushi in that apartment, and it's cramped and cold and everywhere you go it's just... love. Everywhere. There's no love in my stupid giant house.

Alluka is silent for a few moments, and then she says "you see what I mean about thinking like a billionaire?"

Killua looks up at the ceiling. "Yeah. I think I do." 

+----+

Gon greets Mito at the airport on the twentieth with bags under his eyes. He stayed up late the night before with Killua, further defiling his brother's much-abused chair and then heading home to sit with Zushi and talk strategy. The meeting is later today, and they are as ready as they're going to get. Mito takes one look at him and cups his cheek with one hand, her bags forgotten. 

"Baby boy," she mutters, "You're working yourself ragged."

"It's gonna be worth it," Gon reassures her. He starts leading her towards the car. She picks up her bags and follows. Gon tkes one of them off of her smoothly, and she smiles a little at the gesture. He hadn't even been able to carry his own weight properly when he and Zushi visited her for the Fourth of July.

Mito has grown smaller and frailer over the years, and some days Gon worries about what raising him has done to her. Today, though, she seems revitalized, the frigid air and Gon's confidence bracing her. Mito casts a look over to him and says "You're happy."

Gon nods. "Killua," he explains. "He and I are..."

"Sweetie, I knew that the instant you said his name. There's no need to give me the gory details," Mito laughs. "How does Zushi feel about it?"

"He likes Killua. Killua likes him. I keep catching them talking about me when I leave the room. They like to worry."

Mito grins. "Gon, that's you. You worry the people around you. We all love you, though. And you always come out the other side better than you went in."

Gon blinks. "I do?"

Mito bumps his hip gently, letting his prosthetic nudge her knee. "Of course you do. You gave us all a big scare in the crash, but look at you now; in therapy like you ought to be, and you've got a couple of boyfriends who love you so much, and you're standing up for yourself. I know that because nobody in the world could make you fight a fight you didn't choose for yourself." She spots the car and starts towards it, her piece apparently said.

+----+

Killua sizes up the secretary. She seems almost calm under his stare, but no one in big business can take the frozen gaze of a Zoldyck for long. Whatever legal team Chimera has put together won't get to run a power-play on him, and he's buzzed into the conference room almost immediately. Gon and Zushi trail behind him, their nicest clothes woefully inadequate in the room full of the finest tailored suits money can buy. Killua is nearly ready to laugh at how easily they're caving under the pressure of the Zoldyck name when he sits down.

He wonders which of the deer in the headlights is their head lawyer on this case.

Gon sits down to Killua's left and Zushi to his right. Zushi is stone-faced, but Gon looks a little green. Killua takes his hand under the table and squeezes, turning his game-face on his lover. Gon swallows and nods, managing a smile.

When the door opens behind Killua, a deep voice says, in resonant tones that scrape up his spine like a flensing knife, "I apologize for my lateness. My driver ran into a protest and we had to detour."

Gon squeezes Killua's hand and Killua tries his hardest to relax as Silva Zoldyck comes around the shiny oak conference table. The towering man sits down. His chair creaks under him, and he glare he levels at Killua is all withering, blast-furnace heat. Gon squeezes his hand again, tighter, and Killua turns to look at Gon, determined and frightened, and at Zushi, quietly furious, both of them unaware of who sits across from them. Killua closes his eyes for just an instant, and he sucks in his breath and steadies himself.

Silva Zoldyck is a mountain of a man, silver hair to the middle of his back, pointed nose and broad shoulders, and Killua cannot afford to recall that he is the most fearsome trial lawyer in the country, cannot give credence to the nasty rumors his brain has begun to circulate about how he should defer to his father. 

Silva Zoldyck is a terror in and out of the courtroom, but he is in the wrong. He is defending an indefensible position, attempting to bully his way through an unendurable legal morass. Killua cannot let down his lover, cannot let down Zushi. He steels himself as best he can.

Silva narrows his eyes as Killua meets his father's gaze. They lock stares with each other. Killua recognizes the CEO of Chimera Freight beside Silva, smiling at him like a predator. He ignores him. Silva reaches across the table for the materials Killua has gathered. He leafs through the folder for ten long, anxious minutes. He sets it back down and slides it back to Killua.

"Are you prepared to bring this matter to trial?" Silva asks.

"Don't insult me," Killua responds over the screaming objections of his instincts. "You know as well as I that I wouldn't be here if I wasn't. You just read the brief. Do you think you could get away with paying my client less than fifty million in a courtroom? Do you think your client would come out of the PR disaster of a trial in one piece?" He gestures to Gon. "My client was a promising athlete in the prime of his life, and the recklessness of Chimera Freight's driver training policies nearly killed him. The trucker who hit him fled the scene. Chimera never properly filed a report with the police. They just quietly fired the man and did their best to intimidate my client into leaving them alone."

"We paid for-" the CEO starts up, but Silva silences the man with an upraised hand.

"What is the minimum settlement you'll accept?"

Killua weighs his options. What is Silva playing at? "That's not how this works," he says after a moment. "You make an offer. We'll tell you whether we can accept it."

"We won't be-" the CEO tries again, but again Silva cuts him off.

"My client will need time to confer with me about this matter. We will speak about it at length, I'm sure. You cannot be persuaded to be flexible?"

Killua doesn't budge an inch. "Could you be?"

Silva cracks the tiniest of smiles. "Naturally not. I believe this meeting is over." He stands, and the remainder of the Chimera team does as well. Silva leads them out without anyone even beginning to doubt that he is in charge. When the door closes, Zushi turns to stare at Killua.

"What the hell was that?" Zushi says.

Killua takes a deep breath. "That was Silva Zoldyck. My father."

"Did we just lose?" Gon asks.

Killua leans back. "No. But this fight might get ugly." His phone vibrates in his pocket. He pulls it out and checks the new text message. 

It's from Silva. Five words. "By the way, you're fired." Another text message. "You never could pick your battles." A third. "I'll abide by our original agreement until this is resolved. After that, you and Alluka are cut off. Completely. Start packing your apartment."

Killua nods. Zushi glances at the text messages on his scree and takes his hand.

+----+

Mito eases down into the chair Zushi has pulled out for her, and she smiles up at the waiter. Killua bribed the man the instant they came in, so now they have the best table in the house and the best service. Gon is impressed at how well Killua has been doing with his aunt. Killua is generally not charming. It's not suaveness and charisma that attracted Gon, but the deep well of kindness and genuine humanity in the man, so the way he's wrapped Mito around his little finger within minutes of meeting her is something of a surprise.

"Well, if he was so invested in the game, why did he quit?" Mito asks.

Killua smirks knowingly. "Hisoka? He was never meant to be a tennis champion. It just got him the connections he needed. But the man is a chameleon. He doesn't really want to be a lawyer, either. He just wants power and to use it against people. It's just he gets that by being as legitimately into everything he does as possible, and he quits the instant it stops being fun to crush people. Awful man, really. But he just didn't count on Illumi. Illumi is probably the worst person in the world, but he matches Hisoka almost perfectly. My sister thinks they're dating, but I think they're just... y'know, low-key trying to kill each other."

Mito laughs at that. "Your family certainly sounds like an experience."

"His father is," Zushi says into the pause immediately after that statement. He smiles at Mito. "You should have seen it at the negotiations. I'm pretty sure he could destroy _me_ in a fight." Mito's eyes widen, because she has seen Zushi fight, and the sheer size implied by that statement is impressive, made all the more so when she catches Gon's sympathetic nod. "But Killua was amazing. I mean, not only is Silva huge, he's Killua's dad, and Killua just sat there and faced him down. It's not that he wasn't intimidated, he just didn't let it affect him. Cool as a cucumber. Like a prizefighter who can't lose."

Mito tilts her head slightly while Gon threads his fingers through Killua's under the table and begins to go over the menu. "It sounds like you're very fond of him."

"Of course I am," Zushi says. "Killua would fight a bear for Gon. He loves him. How could I not love him for that?"

Gon catches Killua's blush from the corner of his eye and smiles. He leans over and whispers into Killua's ear "I told you this would be fine."

Killua turns to nuzzle into Gon's face a little. "Zushi is right, you know. I love you." He's gone even redder than before, and Gon kisses him gently. 

"I know," Gon mutters against his lips. "I love you, too."

Zushi finds Gon's other hand and speaks with a laugh. "Hey, it's Christmas. Spread the love around."

Killua steals one last kiss, and then Gon turns and lavishes affection on Zushi as well before he gets the chance to really inspect his menu. So few places are open on Christmas day, but he and Zushi found the best one years ago. He orders the fish in sweet-and-sour sauce like he does every Christmas, and they spend the meal talking and laughing like the family that Mito has always wanted. Gon is pretty sure that's the best gift he could ever give her, never mind that Killua is going to win this fight for them, never mind that he'll gift his beloved aunt a new home and all the comfort she could ever ask for, this moment is the best he'll do for her. He sees the smile lightening her face, the way her eyes reflect his own joy, and thinks he could do anything if it would just make this meal last forever, because this, a warm Chinese restaraunt and a cozy Christmas dinner and Mito, Killua, and Zushi, this is perfection.

+----+

Killua already has his rent prepaid through the end of the year. He did it when he first offered to help Gon. He spends a huge portion of his time after Christmas getting the rest of his affairs in order. Mito visits once, forcing him, through the liberal application of hot chocolate, to slow down, but other than that, he is buzzing and rattling around until the thirty-first, when he begins to get ready for Gon's party. It promises to be an interesting one; Gon and Zushi's coworkers, several of Zushi's old UFC friends, and a couple of Gon's old coaches and other acquaintances, plus Mito, who Killua had actually really liked.

Killua tries on several outfits before mumbling "fuck it" and going shopping. Everything in his closet is useless for going to a party: formalwear too stuffy and annoyingly dull for any but the most conservative crowds, or work clothes too professional for that environment, or steet clothes too shabby for a good impression. 

He hasn't been allowed to choose his own clothes since he was twelve, when Kikyo decided that dressing the way he wanted was making him too feminine. She was already busily suppressing Alluka's gender, and there was no way she was going to let Killua have any kind of freedom when he was clearly turning out to be queer, too. Killua knows what he wants, though. He slips through stores, picking things off the rack here and there. There is something deeply satisfying in it, this trawl through the sorts of androgynous outfits that would send his mother into an apoplectic fit. He briefly considers a ballgown, but rejects it because he has no idea how to move in a dress (and absolutely no intention of bothering to learn, as much as he would enjoy the look on Gon's face if he mastered it: coordinated grace is for Gon and Zushi). 

Eventually, Killua settles on a cute, wine-red shirt with short, ruffly sleeves and a ruffly collar, which he pairs with a strappy, complex blue jacket. He doesn't get too complex with the pants, but does make sure to keep some color there, a carefully chosen pattern of complex trim on his blue jeans. For once in his life, he gets to buy the exact shoes he wants, too, and is very happy to walk into Gon's party wearing rainbow sneakers. Gon takes one look at his outfit and lights up, hurrying over. He's covered head to toe in deep green, looking like nothing so much as a sparsely-decorated Christmas tree, having apparently built his entire outfit around the scarf Killua got him for Christmas, green pants, green shoes, his usual hoodie open to the relatively cool air of the house the party is being thrown in. The scarf, green with a splash of red, barely covers up most of a red t-shirt, and Killua grins to himself.

He wasn't the only one beating his nerves with outfits, he guesses. He spots Zushi chatting to some tall guy with ridiculous eyebrows, having apparently panic-selected a hideous holiday sweater and plaid pants (which he is still pulling off somehow).

Gon introduces Killua around, and learning the names, at least, is something he's well-prepared for. Silva's training pays off here: Zepile, the man with the ridiculous eyebrows. Leorio and Kurapika, Gon and Zushi's coworkers who are always arguing. Sadaso, Reihlvelt, and Gido, three former UFC fighters who know Zushi from their fighting days. Bisky and Kite, two of Gon's old coaches. Wing, the owner of Wing's Pizza (who categorically refuses to offer wings on his menu because it would be too trite). There are plenty of others, and Killua memorizes all of them before he retreats to the spacious kitchen and starts making inroads on the snacks. After a while, Zushi comes in to lean against the counter next to him, passing him a rum and Coke. Killua takes it gratefully.

"I don't know how he does it," Zushi says, looking at Gon laughing with Zepile and Kurapika in the living room. "Everyone just... orbits him."

Killua pats his shoulder. "Normally I'd have to be out there, charming people." He turns his patented fake smile on Zushi and sticks out his hand. "Hi there, I'm Killua. You must be a friend of my father's. Hi there, Killua Zoldyck, lovely to meet you, just charmed, it's so nice here, don't you think?" He punctuates the complaint by blowing a loud raspberry, and Gon turns to look at him when the sound catches his attention. Killua blows him a kiss, and Gon hurries over to fetch kisses in person from both Killua and Zushi.

That's when Killua's phone chimes. He picks it up and sees he has a new email.

From Silva. The subject line is "our offer."

He turns the screen towards them, and their eyes both go wide. Killua turns the phone back towards himself, but before he can open the email, Zushi snatches it away and switches it to silent mode, turning off the screen. "Not yet. We'll check it tomorrow? Let's just..." he looks at Killua with a hopeful, soft expression.

Killua feels his heart melt a little. The three of them head upstairs together, where Kite, apparently the owner of the house, is passing out drinks. 

They spend the last hour before midnight getting pleasantly trashed. Gon makes out with each of them intermittently, and Zushi leans against the wall with Killua in between those moments, still watching the party circle around Gon. "Why don't you charm everyone if you can?" he asks.

Killua bumps Zushi's hip with his own. "Because I don't have to with you guys. That's why I like you so much. I don't have to be perfect and social around you. I'm an asshole. You let me be that. You like it."

Zushi smiles. "Oh my god, you are such an asshole," he says.

Killua leans up against him. "Yeah. But I'm your favorite asshole."

Zushi polishes off his last drink of the year. Gon is bringing glasses of champagne. "I'd make a bad joke about how much Gon likes to bottom, but actually, you are my favorite asshole," he says. Killua fights back a blush as he takes a champagne flute from Gon.

The countdown begins, and Killua finds his spare hand in Gon's. He looks at Gon, then at Zushi, and wonders who Gon will choose to kiss at the new year. "Killua," Zushi says, and for a moment he wonders what he has to say right this moment that could be so important, but then people are cheering and Zushi's lips are on his, and something in the back of his mind clicks, because this is it, this is the last ingredient, the quiet domesticity and alliance that has sprung up between them can only have been leading to this. He hands his champagne flute behind his back to Gon and wraps both arms around Zushi, a comforting grip, a reassurance that he will still be there the next day, and the day after that, and after that as well.

They come apart after several long, warm moments, and Killua leans his forehead against Zushi's. "I'm here," he says.

Zushi nods. "I know. And I... I can't imagine you not being. You make us both so much happier. No matter what happens."

Killua takes in a deep breath. "I am... completely in love with both of you," he admits. "In completely different ways."

Zushi smirks. "You don't have to love us the same way. Tell me about it? How I make you feel?"

Killua pulls Zushi close against his chest and accepts a kiss when Gon leans forward for one. "You make me feel safe," Killua says. "It's the way Gon relaxes around you. It lets me relax, too. And you always have control over your situation." He plucks Zushi's sweater a little. "Except when you chose this outfit, I think."

"Killua, don't tell me you didn't buy that shirt in a panic," Gon says.

"It was a very fashionable panic, so shut up," Killua says.

Zushi nuzzles Killua's chest. "You're the first person who ever cared the way I do," he says. 

"And he thought it was hot when you stood up to your dad, and he figured he was de facto dating you already," Gon puts in.

Killua laughs.

+----+

In the end, they don't check the email until Gon reminds Killua about it at nearly four in the afternoon the next day, that being the time they wake up, sprawled together naked across Killua's oversized bed. 

Killua dials down the brightness of his phone screen and he begins to read.

"So, what's the news?" Gon asks.

Killua turns the phone towards him, and Gon takes it and starts scrolling through.

_Killua,_ the email reads, _You have broken your mother's heart and enraged Illumi. I will not claim I am surprised, but I had hoped you could learn to be a part of the family business. You are quite correct in your willingness to take this matter to trial, and I assure you that I have no desire to face you on this matter. The amount you named, seventy million dollars, is to be conceded to your client. Rest assured that if you ever meet me in the courtroom, I will treat you with the respect due to a worthy opponent and attempt in every way to defeat you. You will find few cases so unforgivingly winnable as this one, and I am currently persuading Chimera's board of directors to prevent incidents like this in the future. I doubt your choices will bring you to success, but I applaud your loyalty. If you are not to be a true Zoldyck, then at least you must hold to that._

_Also, your brother's chair has been thoroughly ruined by whatever torments you have subjected it to these last few weeks, and I am sending it to you, as I imagine that will further irritate Illumi, and he should not be rewarded for his handling of the Yorkshire case._

"You did it!" Zushi cries. "You beat him! Killua, I'm so proud of you!" He leaps across the bed and Gon sets the phone aside to join them. They have paperwork to sign and a new life to start, but right now, they can be together, the three of them, as it feels, sometimes, like it always should have been.


End file.
